A hermit crab stack. Two grainy-hand hermits below and a little hairy hermit on top. The one on the bottom never seems to mind the weight; the shells they wear aren't compressible. VancouverIsland #HermitCrabs #IntertidalInvertebrates #Invertebrates #MarineLife #DailyHermit #Eelgrass
Hermit crabs are good climbers. They like high places where they can sit and watch the world go by. Here, a little one climbs the eelgrass. #VancouverIsland #HermitCrabs #IntertidalInvertebrates #Invertebrates #MarineLife #DailyHermit #Eelgrass
Hermit crabs are good climbers. They like high places where they can sit and watch the world go by. Here, a little one climbs the eelgrass. #VancouverIsland #HermitCrabs #IntertidalInvertebrates #Invertebrates #MarineLife #DailyHermit #Eelgrass
#Seagrass is fantastic at #carbon capture—and it’s at risk of #extinction
Naturally occurring meadows of #eelgrass—,ost common type of seagrass found along East Coast of the #UnitedStates—are vanishing. Like seagrasses around the world, they have been plagued for decades by dredging, disease, and nutrient pollution from wastewater and agricultural runoff.
Seagrasses sequester up to 18% of carbon stored in the #ocean, capturing it 35 times faster than tropical rainforests.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/12/seagrass-is-fantastic-at-carbon-capture-and-its-at-risk-of-extinction/
Part of the ongoing #rewilding & #nature #restoration work I do with fellow caring local #environmentalists is planting #EelGrass in areas where we are trying to bump up #ocean #oxygen levels & bring back more #biodiversity in the seas. Eel grass purposeful planting into ocean beds(with divers) & beaches at low tide is an essential part of restoring biodiversity back to human damaged areas in ocean.
Fight to save #PugetSound #KelpBed underscores NW #habitat challenges
July 25, 2024
"The #WashingtonState Department of Natural Resources and the #SquaxinIslandTribe have announced a partnership to conserve the #SquaxinIsland Kelp Bed, the last major kelp bed in South Puget Sound.
"DNR and the Squaxin Island Tribe will work to surround the kelp bed with a priority habitat zone, try to reduce #environmental stresses to improve the kelp bed’s health, and partner with #PugetSoundRestorationFund on future #restoration projects, according to a news release.
"Since 2013, DNR and Squaxin Island staff have seen a 97% decline in the kelp bed, which holds both ecological and cultural significance. In #Oregon, the #coastline lost more than two-thirds of its canopy of #BullKelp.
"'We recognize how important it is to protect this critical resource,' said #KrisPeters, Squaxin Island Tribe chairman, in a statement. '#Squaxins can’t do it alone; it takes us all coming together as partners. That is why this local inter-governmental agreement is so important and monumental.'
"The Squaxin Island Kelp Bed is the first habitat DNR is prioritizing in its statewide #KelpForest and #Eelgrass Meadow Health and Conservation Plan, which state legislation directed DNR to hatch in response to the loss of bull kelp and eelgrass on the Washington coastline.
"The plan’s goal is to conserve and restore at least 10,000 acres of kelp forest and eelgrass meadow habitat by 2040.
"Restoration efforts will initially focus on three pilot sub-basins: South Puget Sound, the Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca and Grays Harbor. As DNR works toward its 10,000-acre goal, it intends to explore conservation and recovery in all sub-basins, according to DNR’s website.
"'Squaxin people have been stewarding these waters and lands for thousands of years,' Peters said in a statement. '#KelpBeds have also been stewarding these waters for thousands of years, providing nourishment and a critical ecosystem for the many plants, animals, and fish of the #SalishSea.'"
#Northwest #LandBack
#NativeKnowledge #Nature #IndigenousKnowledge #conservation #sustainability #decolonization #PacificNorthwest #PNW #environmental
#IndigenousLedProject
#reclamation #decolonialism #Restoration #Landback #Rewilding #RestoreNature #Salish
Half of all #eelgrass in #CascoBay has died within last four years, experts say
Eelgrass, according to Friends of Casco Bay, is home to juvenile lobster and fish. Without eelgrass, much of Maine's seafood economy loses its base, they said.
By Jack Molmud
March 29, 2023
SOUTH PORTLAND, #Maine — According to a report from Friends of Casco Bay, 54 percent of all eelgrass meadows in Casco Bay have died off since 2018.
"This comes as the 2022 to 2023 winter saw water temps reach four degrees above average.
"'My first response was it's heartbreaking,' Will Everitt, the executive director of Friends of Casco Bay said. 'My second response was now is the time we have to do more than ever to protect the bay.'
"Everitt said eelgrass is dying due to a combination of consequences from the warm water.
"Warm water attracts more invasive #GreenCrabs, which cut the eelgrass and eat softshell crabs, he said. This disturbs the naturally-occurring species, he said.
"'When we have a really cold winter it can kill back the green crabs,' Everitt said.
"He added a warm winter won't kill as many green crabs, allowing them to reproduce and spawn more green crabs for summer and fall.
"'The loss of this is tragic and could have a huge impact on our coastal waters,' Everitt said.
"Everitt added the #WarmingOceans in Maine also result in more frequent #AlgaeBlooms, which prevent the eelgrass from accessing proper sunlight to grow.
"Fewer eelgrass meadows mean fewer lobsters in inshore waters, he added.
"'A number of critters in the bay depend on this... the warming waters are going to do a number on this if it continues,' Everitt said.
"If the situation continues to worsen, Everitt suggested experts would recommend planting eelgrass from more southern states so that subspecies can handle the warmer temperatures Maine is set to experience."
#FriendsOfCascoBay #SaltMarshes #SaveTheWetlands #EelGrass #SaveTheWetlands
#SaveTheMarshes #ProtectNature #NewEngland #GulfOfMaine
#Maine’s #SaltMarshes are at risk of disappearing, from #RisingSeaLevels and much more
A University of Maine analysis suggests a significant portion of them could be gone by the end of the century, without a lot of human intervention.
Posted July 28, 2024
Kate CoughMaine Monitor
Wetland loss may be “difficult to reverse”
"For much of American history, the marsh has often been considered more of an impediment than an asset; something to be filled, ditched, dug and bulldozed into something more useful.
"More than half of the #wetlands that existed at the start of the #RevolutionaryWar are gone, according to estimates from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — much of them altered by farming, but also lost to houses, #StripMalls, #marinas and other #development."
#SearsIsland: The Answer to Green Energy, Or Home to #Biodiverse #Wildlife?
by Freyja Grey
Jul 16, 2024
"The #Wabanaki people indigenous to the area named Sears Island #Wassumkeag, or Shining Beach. The tribes used the island to hunt and fish for centuries.
"McCarthy said, 'They've been documented archeologically to have had a presence here for at least thirty-five hundred years.... There's a bio-regional perspective that considers all the relations: the #insects, the #grasses, the #trees, the #eelgrass, the #birds, the critters that roam these woods — if you really want to speak for Sears Island, it's incumbent, not just for poets and photographers and old hippies, it's incumbent for all of us to be mindful of all that is happening here.'
"McCarthy said he gets why the island is an attractive place for development. 'We're in a time where wind energy is important,' he said. 'We need to find green sources of power, but the narrowness of that human perspective needs to be challenged.'
"Both McCarthy and Lawless join the group #FriendsOfSearsIsland in maintaining that #MackPoint is better situated for development.
"Even though 600 acres of the island are protected by a conservation easement, industrial disruption to the peaceful island could lead to #environmental impacts that may not be fully realized until after development, according to McCarthy."
#SaveSearsIsland #ProtectNature #WednesdaysForWildlife #Maine #WindTurbines #WindPort #Maine #PenobscotBay #ProtectSearsIsland #ProtectTheForest #ProtectTheDunes #WindTerminal #SandDunes
#ProtectWahsumkik #EndangeredSpecies #GovernorJanetMills #GreenEnergy
Underwater gardeners plant eelgrass to save 'dead' Danish fjord https://phys.org/news/2024-06-underwater-gardeners-eelgrass-dead-danish.html
"Six hectares of seabed and more than 100,000 #eelgrass shoots have been planted on the seabed since the transplants began in 2020. In some places, divers have observed a return of aquatic life, such as #crabs and #fish."
Goodbye, Toxic, Broken-Down Old Pier. Hello, Eelgrass?
https://baynature.org/article/make-way-for-eelgrass-dilapidated-unsafe-toxic-old-richmond-pier-to-be-removed-at-last/
"thanks to $1.2 million in funds from #Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, officials hope to get the old #FerryPoint pier out of the water before something terrible happens... these old logs were long ago treated with #creosote, a preservative toxic to aquatic life... In doing so, they will restore approximately 800 square feet of underwater habitat—a prime location for #eelgrass beds and spawning Pacific herring"
